Garage Owners Sold Carefully

Offers to buy Paulo and Pedro Petrovitch's garage started coming in more than 15 years ago.

Their popular auto-repair shop at 14th Street and Florida Avenue NW sat on a spot that was increasingly in demand for development as the District's real estate market boomed.

But the Petrovitches sat tight, waiting for a buyer who would give them the one thing they wanted: a little extra time. They wanted to close the doors properly on their 35-year-old shop, which over the years had tuned the cars of former mayor and now D.C. Council member Marion Barry, former defense secretary Robert S. McNamara and now-imprisoned former representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.).

Level 2 Development LLC paid $10.2 million for the property in June 2005, after promising to keep the deal confidential and give the brothers the time they wanted to tell customers and employees of the closing.

"The problem we had in selling was that you put it on the market and you scare away everyone," said Pedro Petrovitch, 61. "The people in the past thought, 'They're nothing but body-shop men, what do they know?' Well, they didn't know who they were dealing with."

The brothers had higher offers. The day before they finalized the deal, another company offered more but was unwilling to play by their rules.

"Everybody wants money, don't get me wrong, but we didn't like that style," Pedro Petrovitch said.

Demolition of the four-story Petrovitch Auto Repair garage is scheduled for this week. Level 2 principals Jeff Blum and David Franco said their 180-unit condominium project, View 14, is expected to open in summer 2008.

The $80 million development will include the condos, a 20,000-square-foot gym and 16,000 square feet for retail space. The condos will range from studios starting at $259,000 to penthouses at just under $1 million.

Blum said that Level 2 has had discussions with Washington area restaurant groups and national retailers but that he would like to include space for a locally owned organic grocery store.

"We hope it will create a critical mass for shopping," Blum said. "That neighborhood is really underserved right now."

The Petrovitch site and a 200-unit, $90 million project across the street are the first major projects for District-based Level 2 Development, whose joint-venture partner is Centrum Properties Inc. of Chicago.